Vrba: Czech Republic can cope without Rosicky
Tomas Rosicky will miss Czech Republic's Group D clash with Turkey, but coach Pavel Vrba is confident they can cope without him.
Pavel Vrba insists that Czech Republic have already shown that they can cope without midfielder Tomas Rosicky at Euro 2016.
The 35-year-old sustained a thigh injury in the 2-2 draw with Croatia, ruling him out of playing any further part in the finals in France.
Despite the loss of Rosicky, Vrba says his side will be more than capable of getting the win they need over Turkey in Lens on Tuesday to give themselves a chance of leapfrogging Croatia into second place in Group D.
"Except Rosicky, everybody is fit to play. It's clear for me who will replace him. I didn't doubt, I decided immediately. But there will be more changes," he said.
"I don't think you'll be that surprised. We've shown we can play without Rosicky and we will show it."
Vrba admits the match will rank alongside the biggest he has overseen during a coaching career spanning more than 20 years, and he fully expects Turkey to rise to the occasion despite back-to-back defeats so far.
"Of course Champions League matches have also been important, and the qualifiers against Turkey, Iceland and Netherlands. They are the top alongside this one for me," he said.
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"I think it's a difficult group. Playing Croatia and Spain is hard and these two teams are favourites in the tournament. For us and Turkey, this is a very difficult group. The one who gets three points tomorrow will get the biggest chance to qualify. We've shown we are two equal teams.
"I'm not their manager, I will only say what I've done to prepare my guys against Turkey. I can't really rate Turkey and their performance.
"They won their qualifiers, their friendlies – two weeks ago they were viewed differently, their strength was immense.
"I think you have to ask them if they will take any risks. They have to attack, they have to get a win. They'll try to get it because they want to qualify. It's not enough for them to play for the draw.
"We know each other very well, we've watched our opponents in the groups more than Turkey. We met with them qualifying. This match will probably be influenced by the fact that we both need to win. We have to bet everything on winning."
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